Thomas regains consciousness to see Alexander gently fanning his face with a large leaf and looking concerned.
"Alexander?" He mumbles.
"Oh Thomas! You're awake!" Alexander blushes slightly in embarrassment at his position of concernedly fanning Thomas.
It takes a moment, but all of a sudden the events of the previous day or whenever Thomas passed out come back, and Thomas bolts up straight.
"Where are we? How much time do we have left? How long was I out?" Thomas asks frantically.
Alexander calmly places a hand on Thomas's chest, pushing him gently back down.
"Relax Thomas, it's only been 15 minutes since you became unconscious at the sight of the dragon." Alexander begins comfortingly, but then bites his lip as he realizes that reminding Thomas of the dragon might not have been the best idea.
Luckily, however, Thomas is busy taking inventory of his position under a banana tree. He suddenly realizes that this is certainly not where he fainted, and so he must have been picked up and carried to this tree by Alexander, who was likely running while carrying him.
Thomas regards how strong Alexander must be to have picked him up and carried him while running. Then he stops that thought immediately, because it is starting to get off-track.
"Thank you." Thomas says sincerely. "For carrying me to this tree after I fainted." He adds at Alexander's raised eyebrows.
"No problem. Come on, let's get going." Alexander replies unconcernedly. "If you can stand." He offers, realizing how harsh his previous statement might have sounded.
"Yeah. Just a second." Thomas acknowledges, bracing himself against the ground for a moment before standing up shakily.
Alexander offers him his arm to avoid falling, but Thomas ignores it and walks surprisingly sturdily forward.
Alexander shrugs and quickens his pace to catch up with Thomas.
Thomas has reached the edge of the Forest, now in view of the dragon.
"Let's go." Thomas commands, stepping forward.
Alexander follows, slightly apprehensive.
"I'll distract the dragon. You try to sneak in and grab the egg." Thomas instructs. "If something happens to me, run back to the place we came from and return to John and Philip. They need you. Don't worry about me."
If Thomas didn't sound so serious, Alexander would have teased him about he sounds like the exceedingly gallant person in action movies. As it is, Alexander considers what Thomas has proposed.
"No, Thomas. I can't do that. Philip loves you. The town needs you. I'll distract the dragon." He insists.
Thomas shakes his head. "No, you are much kinder than I have been, and people will not want me when they find out that I caused not only the curse on Philip and John, but the curse that created Washington Heights and caused them to lose their recollections of their identities. I will distract the dragon. You go."
Alexander wants to disagree and argue with Thomas, to insist that Thomas will be missed. He wants to assure Thomas that he will make sure that Thomas is not vilified in Washington Heights. But precious time is ticking away, so he decides to just go with it.
"Okay. I will sneak up from this side. You distract the dragon." Alexander concedes.
Thomas blinks in surprise, and Alexander almost wants to offer once more to distract the dragon. But then Thomas's eyes fill with resolve.
Thomas doesn't say any more, just walks solidly forward and calls out to attract the dragon's attention to him.
Alexander stops paying attention to Thomas, trying to focus on his own task for the moment.
Retrieving the egg is not an easy task, however. It seems that the dragon can direct its attention in several directions at once.
As the dragon's head moves toward Thomas, the tail begins shaking in defense motions, quite deliberately blocking Alexander's attempts to grab the egg from its position close to the dragon's body.
Alexander groans in frustration. He attempts to thread his body underneath the dragon's body to retrieve the egg but the dragon's body continues to undulate while still putting up a solid fight against Thomas on its opposite side.
Thomas notices that Alexander is having a difficult time grabbing the egg from its place near the dragon. So he decides to take a greater risk.
Thomas dives to the ground as though grabbing at some particular object although there is nothing there. The dragon lifts its tail to provide it with more balance in its tipping motion.
Alexander seizes his opportunity, scurrying under the tail of the dragon to take the egg and a mysterious sword that is attached to it, which he would remove if he had the time.
As it is, he grabs both items and makes haste away from the danger of a vigorously-shaking tail.
Alexander takes the sword gingerly off the egg, careful not to slice his fingers because the sword is unimaginably sharp, looking like it could potentially cut someone's arm or head off entirely.
Alexander looks up once again to make sure that Thomas is alright.
To his surprise and dismay, Thomas is being pinned by the dragon's head and neck. The dragon looks ready to pierce Thomas's arm with one of its extraordinarily long fangs. Thomas looks resigned, as though he may be calmly understanding of his fate and importance to the cause of saving Philip.
Alexander panics, trying to think about what he can do to save Thomas. Despite Thomas's resigned attitude, Philip still needs him very much. As does the town, if he is willing to believe it.
When his mind calms down slightly, Alexander realizes that he has an extremely sharp sword in his right hand.
He aims his throw very carefully, not wanting to cut off Thomas's head by accident.
Thomas grabs the sword with remarkable finesse given his current predicament, and Alexander admires him briefly before turning his head back towards the action.
The dragon places its fang on Thomas's arm and Thomas winces.
Then, with practiced skill, Thomas slits the throat of the dragon. The dragon's head falls into his lap.
Alexander makes a mental note to find out where Thomas learned his swordsmanship, as the ease he just demonstrated must be practiced because they are absolutely impeccable, even in such danger.
Thomas stands up, carrying the dragon's head, because it is impossible to stand up with the extremely heavy dragon's head still in his lap. Thomas wonders briefly how heavy the entire dragon was given how heavy just its head is. Thomas was primarily concerned about being bitten by the venomous fangs of the dragon while it was alive, he thinks in hindsight but he ought to have been concerned with not having the dragon fall on him the way it was tilting, because that certainly would have crushed him to pieces perhaps faster than the venom could have gone through his bloodstream and killed him.
He stands up trying to strike a gallant, heroic pose with the sword but fails miserably because his legs and arms are so tired from the exhaustion that they have just suffered that they cannot hold him up straight.
Luckily for him, Alexander rushes in just as his knees buckle, and he collapses onto Alexander, who is, mercifully, clutching the egg in his left hand and securing it with his left arm.
Thomas tries to tell Alexander that he was successful. That they can save Philip now. That they have enough time. That they completed their task. But his tongue is so thick in his throat. It is so difficult to move.
Before he can tell Alexander anything, he is unconscious in Alexander's arms.
Alexander shifts slightly to accommodate Thomas's weight. He would normally be upset at someone fainting like this, but given the strain that Thomas has experienced, he decides that such exhaustion is warranted.
He wants desperately to use his magic to transport them back to the mirror because he certainly cannot carry Thomas that far, despite his muscle size. But he cannot use magic, as per the rules read to them by James.
At that moment, as though reading his mind, a unicorn comes galloping out of a cluster of trees.
Alexander does not know what to make of this. Luckily, he doesn't have to do anything, because the unicorn trots over and gently nuzzles its neck against the arm and face of Thomas's prone form.
Thomas shuffles slightly in Alexander's arms, but does not rouse.
The unicorn turns its head slightly to the side to brush against Alexander's fingers, instructing him to place Thomas gently on its back.
Alexander hesitates, not wanting this to be a trick that uses magic and gets the golden egg taken away from them.
But Thomas is getting heavier in his arms wish each passing minute. Alexander has to make a decision.
Alexander eventually complies. The unicorn then flicks its neck, as though suggesting that Alexander can climb on, but only because he is with Thomas.
Alexander thinks in the back of his mind that he might be affronted at such an action, but he is being instructed by a unicorn and he is almost as exhausted as Thomas, so he lets it slide, not wanting, for once (John would be proud of him), to take up a pointless argument and win it nonetheless. Luckily, there is no immediate indication of a magic breach or egg disappearance, so this must be an accepted form of help. One less thing to worry about.
Alexander immediately slouches given the relaxation offered by sitting on the unicorn, which is a comfort to his back that is already strained by carrying Thomas for quite a distance until this point.
Within a few seconds of slouching, Alexander is fast asleep.
X
Alexander is roughly woken up by being dumped on the ground by the unicorn.
As he stands, rubbing his backside as he does so, he notices that Thomas is still gracefully positioned on the unicorn's back. He is also still unconscious.
It occurs to Alexander that the unicorn has woken him up for the purpose of carrying Thomas, who it obviously favors. Thomas isn't even awake and he's more liked than me. He thinks, annoyed. Alexander groans in frustration at this realization until his eyes land on Thomas's peacefully sleeping face. He wouldn't want to wake Thomas anyway, he begrudgingly acknowledges as he leans over to pick up Thomas.
He nods gratefully at the unicorn, which tips its head in the smallest gesture of recognition possible. Then it angles its head towards Thomas, and Alexander remembers himself.
He steps away from the unicorn, which gallops quickly away after seemingly being assured that Thomas is in safe hands.
Alexander walks back to the place that they arrived in and murmurs, "James, please return us to Washington Heights."
There's a whooshing sound, and then Thomas and Alexander are flying through space.
A/N: That's that. A resolution and a few chapters of epilogue will follow. Thank you for reading! I own nothing. Reviews are appreciated!
-HamiltonAsparagus